Chapter 6: How we got Here.
Impossible.
That's all Katsuki Bakugo could think as he sat on his bed, staring at the ranking chart, Deku's name mockingly shining at him through the darkness.
Taunting him with its improbability.
At first, it was going well. All Might appeared, introducing himself, announced his new teaching position, (fuckin' A!) told him that he killed that written exam, and that he had the highest kill count of villains in the practical!
Okay, so he didn't put it THAT way, but still! Bakugo did exactly what they said! Go out there and kill robots! He took down more of them than anyone else! Even when that 0-Points fucker showed up and made all the extras crap themselves in fear, he just focused on taking down villain robots! By all accounts, he should have won!
But no, the universe said "Fuck you, Bakugo! Here's a fucking curveball!" Shortly after All Might revealed his second place spot, he revealed some stupid hidden requirement that let weaklings move up on the charts!
Rescue points… what kind of bullshit was that?!
'Well... not all heroes are focused on combat...' a voice spoke up in the back of his mind, one sounding just like his younger self.
So what?! Only the weak heroes like Thirteen or Backdraft focused on that, and that's because they couldn't cut it as a real hero! Real Heroes were all about winning and being at the top of the charts, like All Might!
But no, this stupid surprise rule cost him his deserved place as number one. He might have put up with it had it been someone who actually seemed like they'd be good enough for him to challenge and overcome, but no!
It went to fucking MIDORIYA?! The quirkless deku who had to use homemade gadgets and shit?!
Bakugo's eyes narrowed. He'd be going back to school soon… there, he would confront the lil' deku, and make him tell him how he cheated his way in.
The house had been meticulously dusted, the floors spotlessly scrubbed, and the dishes cleaned until they sparkled. Midoriya brought over a pile of paperwork, all of it related to the company he was the sole owner of, along with his blueprints and plans for his Mysterio suit.
Inko worked hard in the kitchen to prepare several mugs of tea. She couldn't lie, she was scared. She was scared for her son. She knew he was a hero at heart, but with how so many people, including her, treated people even possibly being related to villains, she worried for her baby boy. If he got into the school of his dreams, but got kicked out because of how he got such a high score… she was scared how Midoriya would react.
Nearby, Tsuburaya hovered in the nicest Mysterio Drone he had. No propellers to spread dust, or jets to spread exhaust and fumes, just basic magnetic coils for lift. All weapons had been removed, though the manipulator arms, modeled after the tech used in the octobots, were kept on. Midoriya had stressed to him how important this meeting was, so Tsuburaya resolved to be on his best behavior. Honest, but polite.
Mei had come over, despite both Midoriyas protesting. But, as she explained to the green haired family, as the only other employee of the company, she was obligated to give her thoughts and opinions to Nezu. She was taking this affair with an unusual level of seriousness, for once wearing something that didn't smell of burnt cloth and engine oil, her hair tied back. She did bring along her proudest babies though, the ones she made in the workshop.
The knock at the door was loud, surprisingly so, as if the visitor had metal hands. The four glanced at each other before going to greet their visitor. All in all, the four hoped that they were ready for whatever transpired next.
"Thank you for seeing us, Midoriya-kun! Am I a bear, a mouse, or a dog! The truth is… I'm the Principle of UA!"
The speaker smiled brightly at the group before him, who were silent in surprise at the sight. Sitting upon a woman's shoulder was the hyper intelligent Quirked animal Nezu, smiling brightly. That wasn't what grabbed their attention though. It was the woman who was acting as his perch, mainly due to the fact that she clearly wasn't human, but instead a feminine-build android with white, plastic skin, professionally tailored clothes with red crosses sewn upon the arms, and a kind, simple metal face, round with joined black eyes in the center. Thin black lines surrounding the eyes evoked eyelashes, complimenting the feminine appearance. She had no mouth, but she still seemed to be smiling at the people inside. Latched onto her back was a red and purple jetpack? made of metal. By her side was a metal suitcase with the UA High logo emblazoned atop.
She wasn't as famous as her ancestor, or rather, original model, but everyone recognized what AI line she had been born from. After all, the original model had been a member of the most famous Pre-Quirk Japanese hero team.
"Greetings, I am Professor Baymax model 11.7.14, soon to be Midoriya-kun's Hero Ethics teacher. Please call me Baymaxima Hamada." she spoke, her voice soft and pleasant sounding.
Izuku nodded, excited to meet the latest incarnation of the veteran hero, but too scared to speak up, so Mei took over. "Please come in, sensei!"
Nezu smiled and climbed off his coworker, the two walking in, though not before Nezu wiped his bare feet off with a bit of cloth and Miss Hamada removed her shoes. "I must say, your apartment looks lovely!" the Quirked animal stopped and sniffed the air, his smile growing wider. "And you even made us some tea! Chai, unless I'm mistaken! How kind!"
"Er, yes…" Inko said, shutting the door behind her. "Thank you, Nezu-san?"
"Please, we are guests here! Just Nezu is fine." he interrupted as Midoriya and Hatsume led him to the couches. "Hatsume-chan! I take it you're involved in today's discussion?"
"Er, yes, kōchō sensei… I helped Midoriya out with his babies, but he designed them! I just built them! I mean, I built the parts that were assembled together separately to make his babies!" Mei quickly explained, her hands, capable of working on dangerous and uncomfortable machines without even an errant twitch, were now trembling in worry for her boss and friend.
Miss Hamada followed Nezu to the couch and sat, looking around quietly until she spotted the drone in the corner. "May I ask who that is?"
Midoriya nodded to the drone, which floated over, summoning his Dr. Rinehart avatar. For once he chose to forgo his usual over the top introduction animations, instead just standing tall with a calm disposition. "You may call me Tsuburaya. I'm the "face" of Wondrous Might and Heroism , at least for now."
"Oh? And who do you plan on taking over your position?" Nezu asked, accepting a mug from Inko, who carefully filled the cup until he nodded at her to stop.
"Once he's gained some attention in the heroism business, Midoriya will publicly take command. On paper, he is the current owner, but as he is focused on being a hero, he has allowed me to handle the business side of it." Tsuburaya explained, summoning a holographic tea cup, much to Nezu's delight.
"How else do you aid Midoriya?" Nezu asked.
"My main function is teaching him the tools and methods that his predecessor originally used."Tsuburaya explained after taking a sip. "I handle financing these efforts, and can provide aid, but I am limited in how much I can do."
"In what way?" Nezu asked.
"For starters, I cannot take any action without clearing it with Midoriya first, unless it's either an emergency, an extension of a preexisting command, or it threatens my purpose of teaching Midoriya."Tsuburaya continued, stirring his cup. "Secondly, I am forbidden from attacking anyone without permission. If Wondrous Might & Heroism is in danger, I can activate the defenses, but until it's breached, I may not fight. Third, I cannot help him cheat on his homework or help with any tests. I can provide pointers, but he must come to his own conclusions. Lastly, I cannot hack into computers without Midoriya's direct command."
"I see.." Nezu nodded, taking a drink. "Oh, this is a wonderful cup of tea! But may I ask how Hatsume-chan fits into this?"
"I got employed there a few months ago." Hatsume began. "'Dory- Midoriya caught my eye with the sludge villain incident, do you recall it?"
"Ah yes! One of our other students, Bakugo-san, was involved as well." Nezu nodded after only taking a moment to think. Mei continued her side of the story while Izuku Midoriya sat on the couch, not moving aside from his trembling. Inko meanwhile, brought her kettle over to the other teacher, who had yet to interject.
"Excuse me, miss.. Hamada, would you like something as well?" Inko asked the gynoid. She politely shook her head, and Inko sat down beside her fidgeting son.
Unfortunately, that act seemed to have set something off, because her son immediately blurted out in worry, "Am I in trouble???"
Nezu & Miss Hamada looked over, confused. "Whatever for?" the principal calmly asked, not a trait of anger or accusation in his tone.
"You ha-have an intelligence Quirk, High Specs, right, kōchō sensei?? And my gear was already si-similar enough to… to another's that you've already guessed its origins, right??" Izuku asked, his breathing growing more rapid. "I… I wanna be a hero, so bad, but…!"
"Please calm down, Midoriya-san." Miss Hamada calmly instructed. "You are experiencing a panic attack. Breath in for five seconds, hold for three, then release for five. Repeat." Midoriya followed her instructions, continuing until he calmed down. "There we go, much better. Rest assured, you are not in any trouble at the moment."
"I.. I'm not?" Izuku asked, tentatively raising a tea cup to his mouth.
"Not at all!" Nezu asked. "We just wanted to know how exactly you obtained Quentin Beck's technology."
And then everyone visibly panicked, Midoriya coughing up his tea, much to Nezu's amusement.
"You did that intentionally, Principal." Miss Hamada muttered, annoyance audible in her words.
"I did!" he admitted shamelessly. "I'm sorry, I enjoy messing with humans too much… but I assure you that you're not in any legal trouble, and your place in our school isn't being questioned either."
Izuku looked up. His biggest fear wasn't so? "It… it isn't?"
"Not at all! People show their real selves when faced with overwhelming adversity, and you proved you had the heart of a hero when you saved young Ururaka-chan from the 0-Pointer." Nezu explained, though the green haired boy only focused on one minor part of that explanation.
'Her name is Ururaka?'
"I simply want to know how such resources were obtained, so that I may make sure that it'll be adequate for young Midoriya-san's education, and of course, to address the concerns of the few doubters in my staff." Nezu explained as he brought the mug up to his muzzle for another sip.
Izuku nodded. "I… I understand…" The boy reached into the pile of papers he brought over, and pulled out an old notebook. The one that began his journey. "It… started about 8 years ago…"
And so Izuku told them the story. He tried to keep Kacchan out of the beginning, but Miss Hamada detected that he was lying and he was forced to admit that the boy had chased him to the robot head. Inko had not known what Bakugo did, but knew that now was not the time to confront him over this. Nezu quietly nodded along to the story, only rarely stopping for clarification. When he asked for the notebook to see the map, however, Izuku had him swear to look at only that part.
"Why is that, Midoriya-san?" Nezu asked politely.
"It… it's just that…" Izuku didn't know how to put it into words. For years he held onto the notebook. Even when he showed his mom it, it was only a few pages of Mysterio's story and the map in the back. The rest, though… the equipment, the formulas, the recipes for realistic latex masks… Izuku didn't know if he felt shame at keeping the deceased villain's notes to himself, or some kind of adherence to a silent promise he made to the dead man he never met. A promise to only allow those worthy to see Mysterio's secrets gaze upon its contents.
"...if you can assure me that there is nothing harmful in that book, I'll give you my word." Nezu said after a moment of thought.
Midoriya bit his lip. "There… there are a few things… just some diagrams of the suits, a few animatronic schematics, and the chemical formulas that caused Mysterio's cancer." he admitted, before quickly adding "but Mr. Beck had them labeled as dangerous, a-and Tsuburaya and I found safer substitutes so I won't get sick, or make anyone else sick!"
"As long as you share these new formulas with Miss Hamada before using them at school, I think you'll be fine." Nezu said, turning to the robot teacher for confirmation.
"I think that is acceptable. Rest assured, any dangerous chemicals and schematics I keep off drive and hidden in case of thieves, whether they be of the old fashioned methods or newer ones." the robot assured them.
Izuku nodded, then carefully handed over the notebook and a blacklight pen for them to see the notes. The two studied the notes, skimming through Mysterio's autobiography section to the rest of it.
"This is the map?" Nezu asked, Izuku nodding in confirmation. "And this location is the base of Wondrous Might & Heroism ?"
"That is correct. It also houses the bulk of my memory software. I myself am modeled after the brain scan of Quentin Beck, converted into an AI by Dr. Octavius shortly before his own demise." Tsuburaya added. "I laid dormant, waiting for a successor to find me. I admit, when I first saw Midoriya I was unimpressed-"
Mei snickered, while Izuku looked down in shame.
"But he proved himself to have what Quentin Beck wanted in a successor: creativity, a sense of theatrics, and intelligence." Tsuburaya continued, unbothered by the interruption. Nezu looked over, surprised.
"Neither you nor Mr. Beck cared that his successor wanted to be a hero?"
"People forget that when Mysterio first appeared, he was acting as a hero." Tsuburaya reminded everyone. "Yes, his attempts were done by framing Spider-man, but he planned to be a proper hero afterwards. Spider-Man exposing him led to him being distrusted and disliked, so he decided to just play to the public's perception and act like a villain. Even up to his final scheme, all Beck cared about was people remembering him, his methods, and the persona he made. Midoriya using Mysterio's equipment, and eventually his name, is enough for us."
"And this equipment… where did it come from?" Nezu asked as he gazed at the diagrams of the equipment in question.
"Beck stocked his lair with all his greatest disguises, machines, costumes, and models of past exploits. I used these to train Midoriya. He also has access to Beck's fortune, which Midoriya used to start up Wondrous Might & Heroism. Once we were financially stable and had reached a specific amount, Midoriya gave back the equivalent of Beck's fortune to various charities that the hero All Might endorsed." Tsuraya shifted in his spot, while Midoriya leveled a tired glare at him.
"You disagreed with Midoriya's actions?" Nezu asked, carefully observing the AI's response.
"Not the morals of it, only the lack of pragmatism."Tsuburaya clarified. "That money could have gone to furthering our facilities or improving Midoriya's suits."
"It was dirty money! It should have been given back!" Midoriya snapped.
"All money is dirty money in some way. You think your Mysterio toys were made by Americans in air conditioning?" Tsuburaya shot back, Midoriya falling silent, though he didn't let up his glare.
"Ahem, if it's not too much trouble, I would like to see Wondrous Might and Heroism's facilities. I will, of course, accept signing a nondisclosure agreement beforehand." Nezu smoothly interjected.
"I would like to come along as well." Miss Hamada said. One quick draft of an NDA being written up and signed later, the whole group piled onto a UA school bus driven by a kindly old Caucasian man with a bushy mustache and sunglasses to head down to Korellia.
"Wait here for a bit." Nezu instructed the driver as he climbed out the passenger side.
"Thank you, Mr. Lieber!" Midoriya told the driver.
"Anythin' for a True Believer!" he said cheerfully.
"I swear I've seen that guy before…" Inko muttered to herself.
"Come to think of it, me too." Midoriya muttered, looking around. 'Huh… I guess Miss Yashida is somewhere else today.'
Shrugging it off, Midoriya took them inside. Touring the DvD store took only 10 minutes, so the group made it downstairs fast.
"A Question Lock?" Nezu asked as Midoriya typed in the answers. "Surely there's something more protective available."
"Maybe, but it's randomized, and only two of the questions used involved American movies, both are always from or before Mysterio's time," Midoriya explained. "The last question's always about Mysterio himself, and one that usually isn't public knowledge."
"It's also really hard to break into the hardware…" Mei muttered. "After I found this place, I helped upgrade the control panel so that you need to type in a specific command before inserting a tool to open up the back for repairs, otherwise knockout gas is sprayed in." she gestured at a recently added gargoyle leering down at them from above the exit. "The same thing happens if you get too many questions wrong on the door. Five, I think. Oh, and we made sure the gas didn't have any long term effects."
Nezu nodded, impressed. "What's to stop an intruder from going through the walls?"
"Beck made the surrounding walls, ceiling, and floor out of a carbon-fiber/lead mesh layered in a titanium-based resin and concrete." Midoriya explained as he finally opened the door. "It's similar to the armor the first Rhino had."
"So unless you were someone of Magneto's power level, it's very hard to break in." Tsuburaya stated in pride, hovering inside to dock his drone into the charging station and switch to the room's hologram projectors. "Beck spared no expense in making sure his legacy would remain safe."
"I'm glad you took so many security measures." Miss Hamada complimented as she stepped inside The Studio.
"Welcome… to Wondrous Might & Heroism!" Midoriya said with a dramatic sweep of his arm as the chamber lit up.
"How long have you been waiting to reference Jurassic Park?" Mei asked with a smirk as Nezu, Inko, and Baymaxima looked around in amazement at the studio's robots, workspaces, and machines.
"Finally! A retro movie you know!" Tsuburaya threw up his arms in glee.
"Hell yeah! I loved Chris Pratt's performance in the trilogy!" Mei said with a grin.
"..." Tsuburaya slowly lowered his arms and turned to her with a glare. "....I will not miss you when you're gone." Mei just smiled in return.
"Truly amazing!" Nezu looked around, inspecting the various models, blueprints, and chemical formulas. "I can see that you truly are dedicating yourself to being Mysterio."
"I made a promise." Midoriya responded. Nezu nodded in understanding, but then Miss Hamada spoke up.
"Why didn't Tsuburaya become Mysterio?"
Izuku looked over. "What do you mean?"
"Your AI, Tsuburaya-san, could have been the new Mysterio." Miss Hamada restated. "He is effectively immortal, he has control over several robot bodies, knows all of the original Mysterio's tricks, and could have been the one to take the name to infamy. And yet you didn't. Why not?" she asked the AI, currently using a Rhino android to pack up a crate of electricity-storing gauntlets.
Inko's eyes widened, having never thought this, and looked at her boy and the AI for an explanation.
"I asked him that question once." Izuku said, sitting in an office chair while he fiddled with an Endeavor sculpture. "He told me 'I cannot, and will not if I can help it.' "
"Why is that?" Nezu asked the male AI.
Tsuburaya stopped, considering the best way to explain it. It took him a few minutes, but he came to a conclusion. "I lack creativity." Everyone stared at the AI, who, realizing this wasn't enough, continued. "My programming comes from the mind of a human, but I myself am not one. I hold the memories and knowledge Mysterio did, but I cannot craft my own schemes or plans, and I have difficulties in problem solving. For a demonstration, would you kindly craft a simple hero scenario for me and Midoriya to solve?"
Nezu smiled and sat down on a stool. After only a minute of thought, he spoke up. "Very well. In the Kessal district, working under the All Might Agency under a provisional license, you hear rumors of Trigger manufacturers establishing themselves. You investigate, using the same gear Midoriya took with him to the Entrance Exam, and for the sake of argument, you possess the same ''Super Power'' Quirk."
Izuku sat up, listening intently.
"You come across a warehouse being used by the gang you've been investigating. The place was once used as a factory used for crafting lightweight racing bikes, but is since in disrepair, and appears to now be their newest drug lab. They had only recently moved in, so many of the racing bikes are still there, and the crates are still sealed. There are only three visible Villains in the warehouse itself. One shoots steel spikes from his fingers whenever he makes a gun gesture, with the same speed and ammo capacity of a 6-chamber revolver. After six shots he needs a moment to regrow his ammo. He is the dealer, recognizable thanks to police sketches, and described as a sharpshooter, but with tunnel vision when emotional. Another is a man who can ingest anything and convert & combine the base components into different creations that he can then spit out offensively. He's the lab technician and main producer of Trigger, but is cowardly and short sighted. Lastly is the leader, a man with a Quirk that lets him convert his skin completely into diamond, though he still has nerve endings and pressure points that can be triggered if the shell is broken through. He's smart, wanted for thirty counters of murder, but is extremely cautious. Outside are a group of thugs, all of whom are animal-types. Everyone carries no weapons aside from pipes, sledgehammers, and knives. How do you take them down without killing them or damaging the evidence?"
Inko stared at the principal. '...that's what he thinks is simple?!'
Izuku thought long and hard, while Tsuburaya was silent, but eventually spoke up.
"....I fill the room with fog. Moving fast, I take down the diamond skinned leader before he can activate his quirk, which would leave me unable to fight him. I go for the Spike Shooter, waiting out his attacks until he stops, then I knock him out with my drone's electric shocks. The lab technician is the weakest one, due to his cowardly nature and all the chemical containers sealed up. I go to him last and make him confess, before knocking him down and subduing the others with my drones. They can't fight back since my drones use ranged attacks and are forced to surrender." Tsuburaya stated.
"No.. no, that's wrong." Midoriya got some stares aimed at him. "The lab technician is the biggest threat, not the leader."
"But the leader has diamond skin." Tsuburaya reminded him. "That's the hardest material on this planet."
"Diamonds are the hardest, but not the toughest, so they're brittle. A sharp point and enough force is enough to break through, exposing him." Midoriya explained. "Also, this takes place in a disused racing bikes factory, right? That means the main two ingredients for thermite, aluminum powder from the racing bicycles' frames, and iron oxide on the rusted warehouse walls or pillars, are there. It's entirely possible the lab technician could ingest those and spew thermite, or some other dangerous material thanks to the chemicals all over. His short sighted and cowardly nature would make him attack the hero without regard to any other x-factors, maybe even leading to the factory blowing up."
Nezu's smile grew with each word. "Excellent deduction! So how would you take them out?"
"Er, well… I'd first have the police distract the men outside. While the noise has the three Villains' attention, I'd sneak in and take down the lab technician immediately, then I'd let the gunman shoot at me before shrouding the room in fog, cloaking my form long enough to take him down while his tunnel vision keeps him focused on a decoy. While in the smoke, I'd distract the boss with the hologram decoy so I can grab the spikes the last guy shot. Since the boss is probably full diamond at this point, he'll have trouble with flexibility. I use the spike, along with O-my Quirk to hit the required pressure points in his body… assuming that, as a pro hero, I had enough training that I can regulate my output enough to not kill him." Midoriya suggested. Inko & Mei stared at him, shocked that he had been able to come up with a workable plan almost as fast as the AI who tutored him.
"Hm… not bad. Although both scenarios risk alerting the men outside, the one picked by Midoriya-san is the better course of action between the two… but you both fail." Nezu said cheerfully, shocking the boy, his mother, and the AI next to them. Next to him, Miss Hamada narrowed her eyes in annoyance at the smiling rodent.
"What?! Why?!" Mei demanded from the table holding Support Items being loaded up into crates.
"Neither of them checked to see if they had permission from All Might's agency to move in." he said simply, but with a shit-eating smirk across his muzzle.
"...he did mention that we only had provisional licenses." Midoriya muttered in shame.
"You know that throwing mental curve-balls is not the point of this, right?" Miss Hamada muttered.
"True, but it's something good to remember!" he said happily. "But I understand your point, Tsuburaya-san. You have trouble with lateral thinking."
Getting over the results of that fake scenario, he nodded. "I cannot create anything original. Any training course or plan I make comes from another source, like a movie." With a pillar of smoke, Tsuburaya changed from Ludwig Rinehart to Mysterio. "Mysterio did not consider himself a common criminal. He saw himself as an artist, a writer, and a film director all at once! He would not merely rob a bank with a pistol like some common lowlife! He'd fake an invasion from the Savage Lands, have a horde of raptors run in, perhaps make them ''maul'' a few actors, while lizard men held spears at the people's throats to distract them while Mysterio himself clears out the main vault, then move onto yet another bank! That is how he would act!"
Izuku took that time to speak up. "Mysterio did, in fact, once pull off that exact scheme, only to be defeated by the visiting West Coast Avenger Doreen Green, Hero Name the Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, not five minutes later! A surprisingly not-undignified defeat, seeing as the girl had bested Dr. Doom in her first ever outing." he recalled from memory, impressing the two teachers while surprising his mom and coworker.
"You see? I cannot imagine something that creative without input from another source." Tsuburaya admitted. "In addition, Mr. Beck, and as a result I, don't want to play the role of Mysterio forever, otherwise I could end up like Arnold Schwarzenegger."
"Who?" Mei asked.
Tsuburaya visibly clenched his fists in frustration, but continued on. "Mr. Schwarzenegger, best known for his role as the disguised form of robotic assassin the Terminator, was continually called back to reprise the role. Even when he was in his sixties and well past his prime, he continued to return. I admire a man committed to a franchise, but there comes a point where one must stop. Sean Connery ("Who?" asked Mei, oblivious to Tsuburaya's growing annoyance.) gave up the role of James Bond after growing to hate how it affected his life. If I were to continue Beck's role as Mysterio, I would surely find myself in a similar situation."
"An interesting perspective…" Nezu said, rubbing his chin in thought. "So Mr. Beck chose not to hoard to himself that role, but instead find a successor to continue his creation, and that is where Midoriya-san came in, and where we find ourselves now."
"H-hai, kōchō sensei!" Midoriya confirmed.
"...well, I think it's safe to say that there is no threat to be seen from you, your AI, or Wondrous Might & Heroism !" Nezu proclaimed joyfully. "Thank you for your time, and we'll be seeing Midoriya-san and Hatsume-chan when the new school year starts!"
"...just like that?" Midoriya asked. "I don't need to, I dunno, sign anything?"
"Nope!" the Principal confirmed happily, Miss Hamada nodded in agreement.
The collective relief was visible from the four, glad that all their worry was unfounded. But as Midoriya led his soon to be teachers out of the chamber, a thought came to him. The past few days have been filled with worry over the Principal's visit that he had not concerned himself with a certain temperamental blonde who threatened him to not get into UA.
The same blonde whose coveted position as number one he took by accident.
Crap.
It was the end of the school year, and Katsuki sat in the principal's shitty office. The man himself was even shittier, not once doing a thing to raise his voice against Bakugo, even when he pushed the limits of what the school would allow him to do. The man was little better than a supporter for Bakugo's own glory, like he was doing now…
But Deku shouldn't have also been partaking in that glory! The spineless cowards words were unimportant, as if anything else about this shitty school mattered now that they were gone. All he was doing was waiting to catch Midoriya before he left this shitty school for the final time.
He wanted nothing more than to wring the truth out of Deku since he received his acceptance… hologram? Whatever! But when he voiced his complaints at breakfast the day after the exam, his hag of a mom pointed out to him that it was better he waited until the school year ended. After all, if he caused an incident over this, it wouldn't look good on his record. He doubted this shitty school would care, but UA would definitely want to investigate why one of their hopefuls was injured the day before orientation. Even if he was a cheating little escape artist. Of course, he wasn't going to take her suggestion of a "civil confrontation" into consideration.
Katsuki Bakugo didn't do "civil."
Bakugo did occasionally get angry enough that he ignored his mom's advice and tried to confront Deku early, but he had become an unusually slippery little bastard ever since the exam. Whenever class ended, the minute the bell rang he was out the door first thing. Sometimes Bakugo would be right behind him, but the Deku always seemed to find a way to just vanish! And if Bakugo thought he caught the worthless little Deku, Bakugo would spin him around and see that no! It was someone else with similar hair and rabbit features! Even when he made those extras who leeched off of him try to cut the Quirkless loser off, that green haired bastard would always slip past them, and it was seriously pissing him off!
…guess that was one thing he could be thankful for from this extra.
The chance to finally confront Deku.
The minute the bastard FINALLY shut up and the bell rang, Bakugo threw an arm around Deku and pulled him in closer. "Move away and I'll kill you." he snarled quietly, pulling Deku towards the exit. The minute they were outside, Bakugo directed him to the back of the building where almost a full year ago, he threw the loser's notebook out.
Bakugo thought he had finally broken through to him back then, but it looked like Deku was not going to stop being the pebble in his shoe.
That's fine. He'll just do it again and again until the truth is drilled in and sticks.
"How did you do it?!" Bakugo snarled.
Midoriya kept his eyes down, and what little of his expression that was visible was kept neutral.
Bakugo growled, hands popping. "I know you cheated, Deku! Tell me how you did it! Did that pink-haired girl you were talking with hack the computers or some shit?!"
"....no."
Bakugo froze. Midoriya had never spoken that way to him before. "The fuck you say, deku?!"
Deku looked up, a glare that didn't belong anywhere on the usually friendlier, upbeat boy, directed at him.
"I didn't cheat to get in, nor did my friend Mei." he said calmly, defying the boy he once called his friend. "I got in by my merits and gadgets, nothing more."
"That's a lie!! Tell me what you did, you bastard!" Bakugo had to bite back a shout to avoid drawing attention. "There's no fucking way you should have gotten into the hero course, let alone ABOVE me!!"
"....I'm not telling you anything, because you wouldn't believe me or like the answer." Midoriya clarified.
"So you DID cheat?! I KNEW IT!"
Deku, already growing frustrated with this talk, decided that he may as well get it over with. He didn't want to tell him anything, but he'd rather not have Bakugo spread a rumor of him "confessing" to cheating. "No, Kacchan, I used my Quirk."
Bakugo froze. He swore the world had ground to a halt. There was no fucking way. If that bastard actually had a quirk, then he would have gotten it years ago, when they were just little kids!
"....bullshit."
"It's true… my body wasn't ready for it yet because it was so powerful! I had to build up my muscle for months to be able to use it without damage. I was exhausted all the time because I was working out!" Midoriya told him.
'That's right... Midoriya was looking pretty exhausted over the past year. His grades were still good, but sometimes he actually fell asleep during English class... so he must have been working out!' the voice of his younger self realized.
"...then show me, prove you've got one." Bakugo demanded. He still doubted the validity of Deku having a quirk, but he wasn't going to let this claim go unchallenged.
"No." Midoriya shot it down with the same air of a father telling a child he can't have a cookie. "I don't have control over it yet… I wasn't even going to use it, but a- someone was in danger…"
"Then how'd you plan on getting in, running around, hitting shutoff switches or some BS like that?!" Bakugo questioned.
"With my gadgets." The deku slipped on a leather glove, the fingers capped in metal, and typed on a screen attached to the back of the wrist. Bakugo's eyes were drawn to the boy's bag, from which a drone emerged. It was a small thing, with a wire-like body and propellers. There was a camera-like device on the front, but Bakugo didn't see any weapons or actually useful shit upon it. It floated high enough to reach the second floor, but didn't do anything else.
Bakugo scoffed. "That's your gadget, some cheap drone?!" He looked back at Midoriya and reached for him. "I knew you were- what?!"
Deku was still there, his face passive… but why did his arm go through like the green haired bastard was a ghost?! Then the image suddenly started fading away into wireframe and pixels like some kind of Digimon shit!
.:Sorry Bakugo… but I'm afraid you'll have to wait until UA to see what I can really do.:. Deku's voice projected from the drone, the source of what was now obviously a hologram. .:I'm long gone now. See you in a month.:. The drone fell silent, and suddenly vanished, hidden in a new hologram.
Bakugo grit his teeth. "It doesn't matter, you cheating bastard! Even if you've got a quirk, WHICH YOU DON'T!! I'll still beat your ass into the ground!" the boy stormed off, hands in his pockets. He pushed his way past that annoying rabbit student and left the school grounds.
The rabbit boy watched Bakugo leave. Once he was certain his classmate was gone, the student reached under his uniform's collar and pulled off his rabbit face, really an advanced latex and fur mask. "Thank you Beck… and those amazing masks of yours and the Chameleon's." Midoriya panted out. Bakugo was not going to be happy with him the next time they saw each other, but right now, Midoriya was fine with putting it off.
Midoriya glanced down at the mask in his hands, a flurry of emotions within him. He wanted to tell Bakugo everything. He wanted to show his former friend what he worked so hard to do. He wanted to prove that he was worthy of Bakugo's respect, using everything he had gained from both Mysterio and All Might.
…but he couldn't.
He came so close to admitting the truth, but he can't tell Bakugo. Not yet… if ever.
So, hiding his mask and his prototype drone in his bag, he left his middle school for good, not even sparing Aldera Junior High so much as a glance back
Chapter 7: We will win because we have the best men, and because they're going to get better. Much Better.
The day after Nezu came to his home, Midoriya met up with Toshinori within the DvD store. Tsuburaya appeared in a phone booth that emerged from the ground with a crackle of electricity.
"Congratulations, young Midoriya." Toshinori said with a smile. "I knew you'd make it in. Oh, and don't worry, while I was sitting in on the results, I wasn't a judge, nor did I tell anyone about our training."
"I should also clarify as well that I had nothing to do with your entrance." Tsuburaya added, "I did not hack into the school systems, tamper with the results, or alter anything on file. You got in because you earned it."
"Th-thank you.." Midoriya said. He hadn't wanted to cast suspicion on the AI, but it did sometimes have trouble understanding morals, especially if it involved furthering their goals.
"Also, I'm sorry I didn't talk sooner. With great power comes… lots of paperwork." Toshinori said.
"Oh GOD, please don't quote that Webhead's catchphrase." Tsuburaya grumbled.
"Still bitter over how he beat you?" Toshinori asked.
"No, I am just sick of hearing that phrase… even a parody of it." Tsuburaya explained. "I swear, everyone and their grandmother quotes it endlessly."
"It's a classic for a reason, Tsuburaya." Midoriya said with a smile, before adopting a more serious look. "But I'm still having trouble with controlling the output."
"Honestly, I'm not surprised… What kind of advice is ''clench your buttocks?!''" Tsuburaya asked, aiming a glare at Toshinori.
"In my defense, this is my first time being a teacher…" he mumbled. "But I think I have a few ideas about how to make sure your Quirk doesn't break you again."
Midoriya looked up at the gates before him, a massive logo with a UA atop it.
"I'm here… finally…" he muttered to himself. Eight plus years of hard work, blood, sweat, tears, and a lot of chemistry brought him to the highschool of his dreams. It felt… surreal. Like that time he accidentally sprayed himself with Mysterio's suggestibility gas and thought he was in a Korean zombie pirate apocalypse romcom.
Thank goodness Tsuburaya had an antidote nearby.
"'Dorya!"
Izuku looked over, Mei skating over. "Hey Mei! Are you as nervous about going in as I am?"
"Yup!" she said with a smile. "But I'm sure it'll be fine! I went to bed at 2 in the morning!"
"That's not a healthy sleeping habit…" Midoriya sweatdropped as they walked in.
"It's fine!" Mei brushed off with a shrug. "See ya after school, bossman!" She ran off towards 1-H, leaving Izuku to stare after her.
'Never change, Mei… actually, maybe change just a little.' Remembering where he was, Izuku ran into the building, searching for Class 1-A. 'Holy crap this place is massive…!' Finally reaching the classroom, he was surprised at how large the doors were. 'I guess when you have people with mutations that can make them larger than normal, you need large doors.' Izuku mused to himself as he opened the door. 'I just hope that Bakugo or that stiff glasses guy aren't here-'
"Take your feet off the desk! You are disrespecting school property!"
"Don't tell me what to do, glasses!"
Midoriya froze. 'Thor Almighty, why does fate hate me??'
Before him was Bakugo, leaning back in his seat with his feet up, and the blue haired boy from the entrance exam, who Midoriya could see had some kind of engines sticking out of his legs. 'A boost-based Quirk, most likely, I wonder if it's like a real engine with different gears.'
"Look, let's start again…" the glasses-wearing boy tried again. "I'm Tenya Iida, I went to Somei Private High, and you are?"
"Somei, huh? So you think you're better than me?? I'll kill ya!" Bakugo shot back, uninterested in being civil.
"Kill me?!" Iida stared at the boy in shock. "Are you sure you're in the right place?!"
"Oh, it's you!"
Midoriya looked behind himself to see the gravity girl, Ururaka, looking over with a smile… and wearing a cute schoolgirl uniform that showed off her really nice- 'Stop it! She's your classmate!'
"You're the boy who saved me!" she added. "Thank you so much!"
"It… it was nothing!" Midoriya stuttered out. "Just… trying to do what a hero should do…!"
"Oh yeah, you're the guy that was blasting music from atop the robot, right??" another student, a girl with purple hair and headphone jacks for earlobes, asked. "Interesting tastes."
"My, uh… Trainer was American, and liked old music." Midoriya mumbled.
"You!"
Midoriya shot up, straight as a board. The glasses boy, Iida, immediately walked over and… started bowing?
"I apologize for the way I treated you during the UA Entrance exam!" Iida shouted. "It's clear that you saw something that no one else did! Though I disapprove of how you acted with little seriousness, I cannot deny that you were capable of seeing through to the true test!"
"You've got to be shitting me…" Bakugo growled, glaring at Midoriya.
"Wait, you've got it all wrong!!" Midoriya said. "I didn't know about the rescue points either! I just saw someone in trouble and my legs moved on my own to help!"
"I see… then you are going to be an amazing prospective hero!" Iida started bowing again, which Midoriya immediately started denying.
"If you're here just to socialize, you can just leave."
Everyone turned to the doorway, freezing in shock at the homeless looking man in a yellow sleeping bag staring at them without any visible emotion.
"Twelve seconds, that's how long it took for you to settle down. That won't do." he muttered, taking out a drink pack and draining it dry in a moment. Ignoring everyone's confused stares, he crawled inside like an inchworm. "My name's Shota Aizawa, and I'm your homeroom teacher." He made it to the desk and unzipped his sleeping bag, his costume a simple black jumpsuit and a massive gray scarf around his neck.
Midoriya stared at the man intensely as he stood up. The boy had always prided himself on his knowledge of heroes, even obscure ones, but he couldn't place the tired looking man before him. 'He must be an underground hero, but which one? The Darkdevil? Yokai Biker?'
He was brought out of his musings by Aizawa pulling out several gym uniforms from his sleeping bag. "Put these on and go outside to the field. Don't make me wait."
Without another word, the man left, ignoring the stares the students were giving him… before collectively realizing what he said and scrambling to get a uniform in their size.
Midoriya ran out of the building, slipping on his control gloves over his arms. Making sure his favorite All Might badge was on, he joined his classmates in the back in time for them to hear that they were going to be doing a Quirk Apprehension Test.
"But… What about Orientation?" Ururaka asked the teacher, who glanced over with an apathetic expression.
"If you want to be a hero, then you don't have time to waste on pointless ceremonies. Here at UA, we aren't tethered by tradition, which means that I get to run my class as I see fit." Aizawa stood up straighter, looking at the students with the expression of a butcher inspecting meat for any faults.
"Standing Long Jump, 100 Meter Dash, Seated Toe Touch, Sit Ups, Repeated Side Steps, Ball Throw, Grip Strength, and the Endurance Run. In the past, your schools forbade the usage of Quirks in these tests. The education administration's dragging their feet, trying to make it seem like you were all born equal. It's irrational. Bakugo."
"Yes, sir?"
"You got the highest villain points in the Entrance Exam. What was your furthest throw in middle school?" Aizawa asked, pulling out a softball with a sensor embedded within it.
"56 meters, sir." Bakugo said, hoping the teacher was saying what was implied.
Aizawa nodded and tossed him the softball. "Step into the ring and use your quirk to launch the ball. Anything goes, just don't leave the circle."
"Hell yeah!" Bakugo stepped forward, but before he could go, he was interrupted.
"Excuse me!! But are we allowed to bring support gadgets into this test?? Using them would defeat the purpose of assessing our Quirks, would it not??!" Iida shouted, drawing attention to Midoriya, who looked away, fighting an angry blush of embarrassment.
"Silence. Midoriya, why are you wearing support items?" Aizawa calmly asked. Midoriya looked at everyone around him, seeing their curious stares, and with a dejected sigh, explained.
"...my… my Quirk only appeared a-a few days before the Entrance Exam… and I ha-haven't got a handle on it quite yet… my original plan to get into UA was originally going to be me using my support items to help me."
He got several looks of shock and sympathy at everyone, along with a scoff from one particular boy, no name required. Aizawa himself, meanwhile, just narrowed his eyes at Midoriya, his expression unreadable.
"....fine… but I want you to use your Quirk at least once." Aizawa said.
"Ye-yeah sensei!" Midoriya nodded, while Iida looked scandalized.
"But… it's-"
"My test." Aizawa said, turning to Bakugo and nodding at him.
Bakugo smirked, and, with a scream of "DIE!" launched the ball with his Quirk. While most people were either freaking out over his distance or shocked at his choice of words, Midoriya watched the ball fly away, his mouth dry.
"This is the most rational way to find out about your abilities." Aizawa said, holding up his tablet to display a distance of 705 meters.
"Whoa, that looks like fun!"
"We get to use our quirks openly and freely?? Hell yeah!!"
"I wanna try!!"
The cheers were interrupted by Aizawa looking over. While he was giving off a sadistic smirk, Midoriya could tell that secretly he was not happy with his class.
"So this looks ''fun?'' Alright, then let's make it a game." Aizawa straightened up. "You'll all compete in these eight events, and be assigned a ranking. Whoever doesn't score high enough or fails to impress me is expelled on the spot."
Predictably, that led to many cries of anger and disbelief from the majority of the class.
"But that's not fair!" Ururaka protested, only to shrink under Aizawa's glare.
"Fair? Are natural disasters fair? Are accidents? What about villain attacks? Was the Chitauri Battle of New York ''fair?''" Aizawa shot down her protests. "Heroes fight against unfair odds every day, and it's my job to make you ready to face it. If you thought that any of this would be easy or fair, then I'll just expel you now."
No one protested.
"Good… now get ready… you'll have to go beyond. Plus Ultra."
The 100 Meter Dash
Tenya Iida was, without a doubt in Midoriya's mind, the best at this, even with his self criticism. Behind him was Shoto Todoroki, releasing ice from his right side to slide along the track, like a Japanese Iceman. The perky pink skinned Mina Ashido released acid from her feet to slide along the ground. Following behind her the French/Japanese Yuga Aoyama launched himself backwards with his Navel Laser… though he had to excuse himself to use the restroom afterwards. Poor guy.
Midoriya stepped beside Bakugo, who smirked back at Deku. "Get ready to eat dirt, Deku!"
"Not today, Kachaan." Midoriya muttered back.
The starting gun went off, and Bakugo blasted off, certain of his victory, but looked back and nearly stumbled!
Instead of running, Midoriya had seemingly summoned a drone, the size of an ottoman and far more advanced than that puny consumer model from last month, and was riding it like some kind of rocket chair!
Bakugo still won, but only by a second. Turning to Aizawa, he immediately voiced his grievances. "That's cheating!! He didn't have a drone a minute ago!"
"Well yeah, it was cloaked." Midorya explained, typing onto his glove's screen. Immediately a second identical drone, flanked by a swarm of smaller green drones, appeared above him in a cloud of pixels, making several of his classmates back up.
"Are those armed?" Aizawa asked with the casualness one used when asking about the weather.
"Only rubber bullets, air pulse cannons, and tasers, Aizawa-sensei, but I can disable those if you'd prefer." Midoriya answered.
"....just don't use them on your classmates." Aizawa shrugged, Midoriya nodding in understanding as he joined his classmates, well aware of the stares they were giving him.
'Who is this kid??' the other students thought collectively.
Grip Strength Test
The top two winners were Shoji, who used his multiple arms on the device, and Momo, who created several clamps that maxed out the score.
For the grip strength test, Midoriya again summoned his drone. Holding out the device, the robot grabbed one end with a clawed tentacle and squeezed as hard as it could.
356 kg
'Not bad… I hope." Midoriya looked to Aizawa, who, once again, said nothing to Midoriya about his use of a drone.
Bakugo watched, with a glare at the cheating little Deku.
Standing Long Jump
The clear winner of this test was Tsuyu Asui, whose natural frog abilities let her clear the pit in a single bound. Behind her was Ururaka, using her Quirk on herself to become weightless, though her technique needed improvement. Bakugo, of course, used his explosions to propel himself, and Todoroki used his ice to push himself. Midoriya wondered why the son of Endeavor didn't use his fire, but it was possible he didn't have the same level of thrust as his father.
Midoriya, once again, used his drone to fly over the dirt pit, though this time he elected to hang on from underneath the drone by its tentacle arms and drop down once he was at a certain height, even landing on the ground on one knee and fist. Midoriya smiled at everyone, but that was mainly to keep a single thought out of his head.
'Oh Thor, that landing was hell on my knee!'
Repeated Side Step
This time, Midoriya chose to use both drones to move him, basically by playing tug of war with him as the rope. It looked absolutely ridiculous, but it got him points that were matched only by that kid with the purple spheres on his head, Minrou Mineta, if memory served him right.
The Ball Throw
The other students, feeling the need to show off, came up with some insane methods to pass this one. Hanato Sero used his elbow tape to swing the ball around his head before throwing it like a meteor hammer. Tenya Iida jumped up and kicked the ball out of the field with his engine-enhanced legs. Koji Koda asked some pigeons to carry it a mile away. And Momo Yaoyoroza… created a freaking bazooka to launch it?!
But none of them surpassed Ochako. Simply using her Quirk on the softball, she threw it up… up… and away.
"Infinity?!" everyone yelped when Aiazawa showed them the score on his phone.
Midoriya soon stepped forward, summoning one of his drones to the circle. Once there, Midoriya took out the softball, intent on using the pulse cannon to launch it.
"Not this time."
Midoriya looked over at Aizawa, the drone following his gaze. "E-excuse me?"
"Did I stutter?" Aizawa asked. "I want you to use your Quirk this time. No help from your gadgets or drones."
"Bu-but my Quirk-" Midoriya started, only to fall silent when Aizawa glared at Midoriya.
"No. Gadgets."
Midoriya quickly nodded and, with great reluctance, dismissed the drone to hover off to the side with the others.
"Finally, those drones aren't exactly fair for the rest of us." Kaminari muttered.
"Why's he so reluctant to use his quirk?" a boy with a tail, Mashirao Ojiro, asked.
"Cause he doesn't have one!" Bakugo snapped. "He's just a useless deku with holograms and drones and shit!" Bakugo got stares, but not ones of realization like he was expecting. No, instead they were just confused and disbelieving.
"But then how'd he destroy that Zero-Pointer?" a boy with dyed red hair, Eijiro Kirishima, asked.
Bakugo froze. He had recalled some of his classmates talking about a post someone made, discussing how one of those mechas from the Entrance Exam had been taken down by some weird nobody, but he never paid attention.
'There's no fucking way that was Deku! It must have been some kinda illusion shit!'
'But…. then what about Aldera? He said he had a Quirk.' the voice of his four-year old self questioned before being shoved back down.
Midoriya heard all the words they muttered. All the questions they posed. The doubts they expressed. The dismissals of his reliance on technology. Midoriya turned to the field. Recalling the various baseball pitcher poses he recalled seeing, Midoriya wound his arm back, and with a yell of "SMASH!" threw the ball…!
46 meters
Midoriya stared at the ball. At the last moment, his power had vanished, and the ball went less than sixty meters?! Midoriya stared at his unhurt arm and tried to summon One for All again, but nothing emerged.
"What…. But I…. Why…?!"
"I erased your Quirk."
Midoriya turned to Aizawa, who now looked like one of Mephisto's own demons. His hair and scarf floated around him, and his eyes, unblinking, glowed bright red as he glared at the boy. Midoriya, however, was drawn to the other object around the man's neck.
"Yo-your goggles…! You're the Underground Pro, Eraserhead!" Midoriya stammered out.
"You think a few drones are enough to get you into the hero course?" Aizawa growled out. "Or a limited supply of fog and intangible holograms?"
"N-no sir, I-" Midoriya was interrupted when Aizawa's scarf seemed to shoot out, wrapping around his limbs and restraining the boy. 'His scarf…! It's so strong!! It's like trying to rip apart one of Mysterio's fake Spider-man webs!'
"Your gear is impressive, but its ammo will run out, or it will be discovered and destroyed, or turned against you by some tech-savvy villain. To fight some of the most dangerous villains alive, you need to have more than just tricks to rely on." Aizawa continued. "And if you're going to use that ''I just got my Quirk'' excuse again, don't bother. You shouldn't have come here, especially if you don't have control over your power yet. Power you cannot control is a liability that threatens everyone else. You're just proving how utterly foolish you are trying to chase a dream that is impossible for someone like you, and I refuse to indulge it if it means you'll be risking the lives of yourself and others."
"...I know…"
Aizawa raised an eyebrow, and loosened his grip so that Midoriya could look at him. The boy looked up, no longer scared or nervous, but glaring with a determined fire. "...I know the odds are against me… but I just need a chance to prove that I belong here, sensei. A chance to prove that I won't let my late start hold me back."
Aizawa said nothing, only blinking and releasing Midoriya. "I returned your power to you. But it'll take more than a Shonen Jump protagonist's speech to convince me."
Midoriya nodded, and grabbed another ball from the bucket.
From behind a nearby building, All Might and Tsuburaya observed the students, the latter watching through the hero's phone's camera.
"....do you think Midoriya would be upset if Aizawa went missing? Hypothetically speaking?" Tsuburaya asked.
"Yes." the man muttered. "I was worried about this the moment I read Midoriya's file… Aizawa doesn't like seeing students put themselves at risk. He's expelled entire classes enough that the teachers started a betting pool over it."
"Then Midoriya needs to think of something fast…" Tsuburaya muttered to himself. His programming was simultaneously telling him to interfere, yet he couldn't. It was, quite frankly, maddening for the AI.
"He'll think of something… I know it." All Might insisted, though he was unable to hide his own worry.
Midoriya looked at the ball in his hand.
'All Might had suggested trying to lower the percentage… I'm still having trouble with maintaining it… but maybe..!' Midoriya threw his arm back, gripping the baseball, and took aim. 'Remember the egg in the microwave…! Hold it…. Hold it..!'
"SMASH!" Midoriya shouted once again….
Only this time a massive shockwave shot out, launching the ball and blowing back everyone's hair. Midoriya, teeth gritted, watched the softball fall back towards the Earth, landing in the distance. "Sensei…"
Aizawa looked over, and for the first time that day was pleasantly surprised. Midoriya raised his arm, the limb unharmed save for a single broken finger. "I'm…. not useless! I can still fight!"
'So, he held off on using his power until the last possible second, when only the tip of his index finger was on the ball..' Aizawa mused, giving off the first genuine smile of the day. "This kid." he muttered, holding up the tablet to reveal a distance of 724 meters.
"Holy crap!!"/"That was super manly!"/"Too bad about his finger though.."/"I guess that's why he has the support items, kero."
Everyone was praising him, chatting excitedly and muttering… save for one.
"DEKU!"
Midoriya jumped, Bakugo snarling as he stormed over, hands popping. "Ka-Kachaan, I-"
"TELL ME HOW YOU GOT A QUIRK OR I-" Bakugo was stopped by two drones getting in his way, green lasers shining on his chest. The boy raised his hands, but his explosions didn't appear. "What, why isn't-"
"Stand down, Bakugo." Aizawa growled, his Quirk active. "Midoriya… why are the drones taking aim?"
"S-sorry sensei! I must have forgotten to disable the automatic defense protocol!" Midoriya apologized, typing a command into his glove. Immediately the drones deactivated their targeting lasers and hovered away. Midoriya looked at his classmates, who while concerned, thankfully didn't appear to be scared by how quickly his drones were to threaten Bakugo.
"It can't have been a real Quirk!!" Bakugo snarled. "He's a Quirkless little-"
"Whether or not he was Quirkless is irrelevant, Bakugo." Aizawa interrupted with a tone not dissimilar to a disciplining parent. "This isn't a place for you to fight one another. Now get back with the other students before I get dry eyes."
Those words were an unspoken threat strong enough to make Bakugo stand down and storm over to the other students.
"Midoriya, go see the old lady-"
"I can keep going, sensei!" Midoriya interrupted. "A little pain can't stop us when people's lives are at risk, right?? I'll just be very careful!"
Aizawa stared at him for a moment before sighing. "Fine. Sato, your turn."
Seated Toe Touch
Midoriya didn't need his drones for this one, since part of his training with Tsuburaya involved learning escape artistry and contortionism, which left him plenty flexible. The only ones who matched him were Ashido and Asui, whose bodies were naturally limber, much to the delight of the ogling Mineta.
Midoriya made a mental note to keep an eye on him.
Pull Ups
Midoriya also did fine in this task, having his cloaked drones help him out when his muscles started to give out. Despite his robotic assistance though, the MVP of this exercise, from the sound of it, was Toru Hagakure, however Midoriya suspected that she was cheating… mainly due to the fact that she was completely invisible, once she shed her gym clothes. Trying to ignore the implications of this, Midoriya focused on not aggravating his broken finger.
Endurance Run
Seeing as Yaoyorozu was riding on a motorized bike, Midoriya chose to use his drones again, but only once he started to feel exhaustion from running. By the second hour, Yaoyorozo had run out of gas, and Iida was panting heavily, while Midoriya sat comfortably atop his drone.
"How much longer will its battery last?" Aizawa asked when Midoriya approached on his 58th lap.
Glancing at his wrist screen, Midoriya responded "Another hour, I think."
Aizawa grunted, but didn't tell them to stop until the two of them did.
At long last, the results of their Quirk Apprehension Test were ready for display. The tension was so thick among the classmates that it could have been cut with a knife.
Aizawa looked at them all over lazily, before typing into his tablet. "It'll take too long to talk about your performances individually, so I'll be going over your scores all at once." A hologram formed beside him, and everyone scanned the placement to find their name.
Momo YaoyorozuShoto TodorokiKatsuki BakugoTenya IidaFumikage TokoyamiMezo ShojiMashirao OjiroEijiro KirishimaIzuku MidoriyaMina AshidoOchako UrarakaKoji KodaRikido SatoTsuyu AsuiYuga AoyamaHanta SeroDenki KaminariKyoka JiroToru HagakureMinoru Mineta
Midoriya released a gasp of relief he wasn't aware of holding.
"What?! But that shitty Deku only did so well because of those stupid drones, not because of his Quirk!" Bakugo shouted indignantly. Aizawa turned a glare at him.
"That wasn't the point of these tests." while the class stared at him in shock, Aizawa explained. "It was obvious enough in the Entrance Exam that you're all physically capable to some extent or another… but just being able to fight isn't enough to be a hero. You also need to know how to use your resources creatively, whether it's your Quirk, or support items. Midoriya was reliant on his drones, but he's got the smarts to prove that he won't let them or a newly emerging Quirk be a crutch, and with them, I'm sure he'll be able to get his Quirk under control in time."
"No!!! I can't believe I'm going to be expelled before I get a girlfriend!!" Mineta yelled, falling to his knees as tears flowed down his face.
Everyone turned to stare at the diminutive boy with purple orbs. Some in sympathy, a few in confusion, but most of them, especially the girls, were disturbed and frankly a bit disgusted.
"Oh, by the way, no one's getting expelled."
Everyone snapped back to their teacher, who had the biggest shit eating grin on his face.
"That was just a logical ruse to get you to all push yourselves."
'Does all of UA use logical ruses and trickery?!' Midoriya asked himself while everyone else looked scandalized.
"Oh, sorry, should I have said something?" Yaoyorozo innocently asked. "I thought it was fairly obvious."
"YES!!!" Mineta stood up, overjoyed. "I've still got a chance to feel a girl's-" his cheers were interrupted as Aizawa's scarf suddenly wrapped around him as if possessed.
"However, that doesn't mean any of you are off the hook." Aizawa continued, his expression once again serious and ignoring Mineta's struggles. "You can't sit comfortably where you are if you want to be a hero. You're going to have to keep pushing not only your bodies, but minds and quirks to their limits if you want to be heroes."
"What is this scarf made of?!" Mineta yelled out, his words muffled.
"It's not a scarf. It's a capture weapon made of a carbon fiber and vibranium weave." Aizawa explained, before turning to the boy wrapped up in said capture weapon. "In addition, the principal is well aware of your history, Mineta. The only reason you were allowed here is because he thinks that I can change your bad habits, and I'm keeping you only because you've shown creative use in your quirk, so you do have potential." Aizawa's eyes glowed red and his hair hovered around him once more. "But if I don't see any progress in changing your attitude, I will kick you out, skills be damned. Is that clear?"
Mineta nodded rapidly, a whimper heard through the material. Aizawa retracted the material then pulled out a slip of paper. "Midoriya, take this to the old lady to get fixed up. When you're done, join your classmates in the homeroom. You'll all find your syllabus there." he turned to leave, but stopped and looked back at everyone.
"Oh, and welcome to UA."
"A logical ruse? Don't make me laugh!"
Aizawa sighed, and turned to All Might "Hello All Might. I'm surprised you managed to pull yourself away from the spotlight." He glanced at the man's suit pocket, his phone sticking out of it, in the middle of a call. "Is that the Problem Child's AI?"
"My name is Tsuburaya." the phone responded in a clipped tone. "And what makes you so certain my successor will be a ''problem child?''"
Aizawa stared blankly at the phone. "....do you want me to list the reasons in alphabetical order or in risk levels?"
"Be that as it may, you can't deny the boy impressed you!" All Might interjected before Tsuburaya could shoot back. "That's the only reason you didn't expel him, isn't it??"
"So you were observing the test, then?" Aizawa asked, All Might freezing up, while Tsuburaya stepped in.
"I wanted to make sure you would treat my protege fairly in spite of his inheritance, and since none of my drones are allowed on campus without permission, I asked All Might to stream the tests to me." Tsuburaya explained.
"I don't care if Midoriya was the cloned child of Dr. Doom and Sinthea Shmidt created by Nathan Essex." Aizawa bluntly responded. "Judging one solely by their predecessors is irrational. I do judge people by their merits and potential, however, and Midoriya… has a non-zero chance of progressing."
"What if the other students do judge him that way?" Tsuburaya asked.
"We'll handle it." Aizawa said simply.
"Plenty of Midoriya's past teachers have ''handled'' similar cases when he was being bullied. By which I mean they did little more than raise their voice to the aggressors. If they caught them doing something." Tsuburaya shot back, somehow managing to convey cold fury despite lacking any visible indications. Aizawa shifted uncomfortably, but straightened up after a moment.
"I won't let him be bullied." Aizawa insisted. "And I would also like the names of Midoriya's previous teachers forwarded to my desk so that I may investigate them and their school."
"Good." Tsuburaya said. "I'll compile a list and have it sent to you by next morning."
"Also, if I learn that you once again overrode Midoriya's drone controls to threaten another student, I will have Nezu write up a firewall to keep you out." Aizawa added before leaving.
"....duly noted." Tsuburaya muttered.
Midoriya left UA, looking over his now healed finger. He had received quite an earful from Recovery Girl, though he couldn't really blame her. Breaking himself to pass a test was too extreme… but he didn't know what else he could have done. He was resigned to walking to the train station alone, like usual. He had hoped Mei would join him, but when he saw her, she was angrily muttering about some "child prodigy who got in early" and chose to stay in to work on her babies.
Midoriya knew better than to pull her away when she got this driven, so he left her there and prayed for Power Loader's sanity.
"Deku!"
Midoriya looked up, Iida and Uruaka waiting at the front gate for him, much to his surprise.
"Wha… why'd you call me that?" Midoriya asked.
"Isn't that your name?" Uraraka asked innocently. "That's what Bakugo was calling you."
"No, it's just a nickname Bakugo made up to mock me…" Midoriya mumbled. Seeing their looks, he reluctantly chose to elaborate. "My name's Izuku, you see, and if you alter how it's spelled, you get the word for useless."
"Oh, I'm sorry!" Uraraka apologized. "I thought it was a nickname, because it kind of sounds like ''dekiru,'' or ''you can do it!''"
"Oh… well, you can use it if you want!" Midoriya said happily.
"I would advise against it! Just because she likes it doesn't mean that she should have to use it if it makes you uncomfortable!" Iida said, his arms chopping with each word.
Giggling at how uptight Iida was, Uraraka turned to Midoriya. "Well, if you're okay with that, you can call me Ochako!"
"Re-really??" Midoriya asked with a slight blush.
"Yeah, we're friends now, aren't we?" Ururaka, no, Ochako asked with a smile. "Want to walk with us to the train station?"
"Um, sure!" Before Mei, Midoriya had never had any friends. Tsuburaya was nice, but he was sure the AI saw him more as a student at best, an investment at worst.
"I do have to ask, Midoriya… where'd you get such advanced drones?" Ochako asked Midoriya after a minute of walking. "I've never seen any with weapons or cloaking… which sounds silly now that I say it out loud."
"I admit I was curious as well." Iida said.
Recalling what his current cover story was, Midoriya took it in stride. "I'm connected to a friend, Mr. Tsuburaya, who runs an independent support item company. He was the first who saw my potential in being a hero and helped me learn who to use support items to stand alongside my peers before my Quirk emerged."
"Really? Which support company?" Ochako asked.
Taking a moment, Midoriya debated telling them, before reaching a conclusion. " Wondrous Might & Heroism ."
"BULLSHIT!"
Midoriya jumped in fright as Bakugo stormed over. "Ka-Kachaan!"
"There's no way you're connected to someone that useful!" Bakugo snarled. "Where'd you get those drones and that stupid Quirk of yours?!"
"I-I-I told you Kachaan, it wa-was a late awakening!" Midoriya stuttered out in fear.
"Quirks don't awaken this late!" Bakugo shot back. "Did you get yourself mutated by radioactive waste or some shit like that?!"
"Hey, Kachaan, just leave Midoriya alone!" Ochako interrupted, not backing down even when Bakugo turned his rage onto her.
"The FUCK you call me, round face?!" he snarled. After staring into her defiant glare a minute or so more, he evidently decided that fighting his classmates over this wasn't worth it, and stormed off.
"...you didn't get mutated or anything, right?" Ochako asked Midoriya, who shook his head no.
"It's a Quirk, I swear! Eraserhead's power doesn't work on non-quirks!" Midoriya stated truthfully.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to sound offended." she apologized, visibly upset by how she must have come off.
"N-no, it's a reasonable assumption." Midoriya admitted. "But I did get my Quirk late…"
"Wait, so you thought you were Quirkless your whole life and planned to get in using gadgets?!" Iida asked in shock.
"If Iron Man could be a Quirkless hero, why not me?" Midoriya asked.
"He's rich, though I suppose you have a point…" Iida conceded "still, a very risky idea!"
"I'm well aware…" Midoriya said, the trio continued their walk to the train station, chatting away about nothing important.